I`ve played a lot of JRPG`s this generation and it`s only western reviews that is complaining. They have found salvation in a gun apparently(cod,me,gears,killzo ne,battlefield) There`s no problem with JRPG`S quality, never have been, never will be.

yeah if anything Last story is further proof the genre doesnt need the western media's brand of "salvation"

You can't have three so spiritually similar in rows that are masterpieces such as Xenoblade , Last story , pandora tower , actually deeply rooted with the whole of jrpgdom , while the "failures" (like ffxiii) are basically doomed attempt to please the west , and pretend the genre got any particular glaring issue

I agree. Though I prefer real time to what the systems of the older Final Fantasy game. The best combat rpg system for me is one that challenges the player's strategy and dexterity in real time. JRPGs don't challenge dexterity but have deep strategy. However, I prefer a mix of both and few games give a proper blance of both.

If you haven't already, check out the "Tales of" JRPG series for fast paced, real time combat (that takes a lot of strategy and skill, especially on higher difficulty settings) and a big story! Like Tales of Vesperia on Xbox360, and Tales of Graces F, that comes out next month for the PS3! For me this is the best JRPG series :)

"combat is where the game really sets itself apart from the genre and brings innovation where many thought it would be impossible. Every battle is fought in real time,"

you mean like kingdom hearts? or ff 12 was? or any number of japanese rpgs?

sensationalizing when you dont know anything is the worst

"he can also use a dye system in order to recolor each area separately, offering a very high degree of variation. I’m definitely sure I never saw a JRPG that included this kind of feature, and I didn’t miss many."

Kingdom hearts and FFXII had a pretty classic action JRPG approach to combat. Most JRPGs belong to a few subgenres. Action, turn-based and strategy. Of course action JRPGs exist, and have existed for a long while.

This doesn't mean that the sub-genre is evolving at a sizable pace.

The biggest Innovation so far I've seen with the Valkyria Chronicles series that really brought a radical change from the standard of the SJRPG sub-genre.

Mind you. I didn't even say that it is a bad thing. If the quality is high, I don't mind at all a game that keeps to tried and true standards. This doesn't mean I won't be pleased when I see a developer trying something entirely new, and in my opinion The Last Story represents exactly that.

This preview never said innovation = good / lack of innovation = bad. What it does say is "this game innovates and does so in a good way. yay!"

There's no sensationalism or "making up". In MY opinion this game innovates more than most others, and does so purposely and effectively (there have been a few "innovations" that have been disastrous).

"evolution" and "revolution" are two very different concepts. for what I'm concerned TLS is an evolution, and a pretty big one.